


Reflekta is Reflective

by RockSunner



Series: Smart Adversaries AU [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chat Noir Reveal, Episode: s01 Reflekta, Hawk Moth Reveal, Identity Reveal, Multi, Reflekta!Ladybug, Romance, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockSunner/pseuds/RockSunner
Summary: What if Hawk Moth gave Reflekta better instructions before she attacked Chat Noir?





	1. Picture This

Rose came to Marinette. "Oh, Juleka was locked in the bathroom – she really does have the class photo jinx!"

"Of course I should've known," said Marinette. "Chloé was behind this! We're gonna have to break this curse, Rose!"

"We can ask the photographer," said Rose.

"There's no point – he wouldn't want to! Unless... the photo disappeared, and the Principal would have no choice but ask the photographer to shoot another one, with Juleka!"

"You're a genius, Marinette! But why would the photo just disappear?"

"You find Juleka; I'll take care of the rest!" said Marinette.

Chloé was hiding around the corner with Sabrina.

"She's not ruining my perfect photo with Adrien! Think of something, fast!" Chloé said to Sabrina.

* * *

Marinette watched from the library floor as Principal Damocles and Vincent (the photographer) came out of the office.

"So, all the material stays in the Principal's office during lunch break," said Marinette to Tikki.

"I refuse to be a part of this!" said Tikki.

"There's no time! We have to break Juleka's class photo jinx before the photographer leaves the school," said Marinette.

Marinette slipped down the stairs and went to the door of the office. The coast seemed clear.

"Okay," said Marinette, preparing to enter.

"There must be another way, Marinette!" said Tikki, flying up to face level.

Marinette ignored the warning and went in.

(Chloé, recording her with her cell phone from the other side of the building, was looking at the zoomed-in camera view and didn't see the kwami. Sabrina, who was also watching, missed seeing the small creature from a distance.)

Marinette picked up the camera and looked at the preview screen. She almost found the image she wanted to delete, but then she heard footsteps approaching. She put down the camera and hid behind the desk.

Chloé and Sabrina came into the Principal's office.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea!" Tikki whispered to Marinette.

Sabrina said softly to Chloé, "I think she's hiding behind the desk."

Chloé whispered back, "I know. Just stand here quietly for a minute and let her sweat."

* * *

Into the school courtyard came Juleka Couffaine, now akumatized into Reflekta.

Her hair resembled a pinkish-red latex hood, with two huge ponytails sticking up on either side of her head. She wore a ruffled collar and matching ruffled skirt with eye-shaped designs. Her face was white, with hot pink circles around her eyes, and rounded green dots on the tips of her long eyelashes. On top of her right hand was an eye-shaped decoration with a white center.

Reflekta landed in front of Damocles and Vincent, each carrying a cup of coffee for their break.

"Hello!" said Reflekta.

"What? Who-who are you?" asked Damocles.

"Nobody's ever noticed me! But those days are over! But from now on, everybody will notice me because everybody will look like me! Time to get a new look!"

She pointed the device on her right hand at the two men, and turned them into duplicates of herself. (The coffees disappeared when they transformed.)

"Soon there will be Reflektas everywhere!"

Reflekta blasted away in every direction, making everyone into Reflekta copies.

"No need to panic! Who doesn't love an extreme makeover?"

Students tried to flee, but she threw lockers in front of the exit from the school courtyard.

"Nobody leaves here!"

Reflekta jumped up to a high point on the building.

"Hahahaha! Soon everyone in Paris will look like me, including Chloé Bourgeois!"

"Beautiful," said Hawk Moth telepathically. "It won't be long before Ladybug and Cat Noir show their face! And then... wait! Reflekta, you must not transform them before you get their Miraculouses – the ring from Chat Noir and the earrings from Ladybug. I warn you – change either of them before you get the magic jewelry and I will remove your power."

"I understand," said Reflekta. "I have to get close to them. Time to get tricky."

Reflekta moved to a corner, out of sight. She came back out looking droopy and sad. She slipped into the locker room and blended in with the other victims.

Adrien came into the locker room and saw all the Reflektas. He went in a corner where nobody could see him. "Plagg, claw out!"

Chat Noir went out into the courtyard. It was empty.

Reflecta came up to him.

"Chat Noir, I'm afraid," said Reflekta in a fake anxious voice. "Please get us out of here. I want to go home."

"Have no fear, I will set you free," said Chat.

Others come out also.

Nino said, "Yo! Check it! Cat Noir is gonna save us!"

"Help us Cat Noir! I don't know how longer I can stand being in this body!" said Ivan.

"No worries, fans!" said Chat proudly.

"Oh, thank you, Chat Noir," said Reflekta. In pretended gratitude she shook his right hand. She slipped the ring off his finger and the instant it left his hand she blasted him with the transformation beam.

"Much better! I hate cats!" said Reflekta.

"It's the real Reflekta! Run!" Nino shouted. He ran, but he got hit in the back and turned into another copy.

Hawk Moth sent, "Wonderful work, Reflekta. Now do the same to Ladybug!"

"I want to keep looking for Chloé."

"Go ahead, but watch for Ladybug. She could arrive at any moment."

* * *

Chloé was tired of waiting. "I know you're in here Marinette. Come out, now!"

"Hide, Tikki," whispered Marinette, letting the kwami back into her purse.

Marinette stood up, looking sullen.

"Aha! Caught red-handed Marinette Dupain-Cheng! The principal would love my video of you snooping around in his office!" said Chloé.

Chloé showed Marinette the clip of her going into the office. Marinette was trying to think of a way to get leverage to get it erased, when...

Reflekta, having dealt with Chat Noir very swiftly, was now close enough to the door to hear Chloé's raised voice. She smashed her way into the room.

"There you are at last! Chloé Bourgeois!"

"Who are you?" asked Chloé.

"Take a good look at me because I am your future face!" said Reflekta.

"Eeew, gross!" said Chloé.

Marinette had figured out by this time the identity of the akuma. It had to be the last person with a grudge against Chloé – Juleka.

No time to transform. "Juleka, stop this now!" said Marinette.

"I'm not the Juleka nobody notices anymore! Now, I'm the unmistakable Reflekta!"

Marinette was about to pick up the camera to throw at the akuma, but Reflekta was too fast: she zapped Chloé and changed her to a copy.

"What in the?" said Chloé. "Do you realize how much my outfit cost?"

"You should be thanking me! You look a thousand times better looking like this!"

Marinette had a sudden realization. Chloé had her cell phone in her hand an instant ago, and now it was gone. So were the sunglasses she always wore on top of her head. If Marinette was hit next...

Marinette dropped behind the desk and pulled off her earrings. (They attached magically, without piercings, so this was easy to do). She flung them down, pulled off her purse, and put the purse on top of the earrings.

Reflekta had taken a moment for a few more words with Chloé, and also zapped Sabrina. Then she came around the desk.

"One more face to make over," said Reflekta. She zapped Marinette, then walked out laughing.

Marinette picked up her purse, popped in the earrings, and pushed out of the office past the still-shocked Chloé and Sabrina.

It wasn't easy to run in the high platform shoes and the stiff, frilly skirt. She went into the nearest deserted classroom and put the earrings back on. Fortunately, her new plastic hair didn't cover her ears.

"Tikki, can you transform me while I'm like this?" Marinette asked.

"I should be able to. The magic of the form is too strong for me to fix, but I can still give you your powers."

"Tikki, spots on!"

The transformation felt weird. The urge to dance and twirl was thwarted by the bulky costume.

Ladybug looked down at herself. The frilly red dress was still there, but now covered with black spots. Her yo-yo was at her hip. She felt her mask over what she knew were pink-ringed eyes with green-tipped eyelashes.

Lovely... However, she was Ladybug. She could do this.

She ran out to find and stop Reflekta.


	2. Send in the Clones

"My powers might be gone but I can't just stand by and do nothing!" said Reflekta Adrien (who had been left standing by the pile of lockers he had hoped to clear with a Cataclysm). "I've gotta get Reflekta back for the way she tricked me, too."

He started to run, but the platform heels tripped him. "Who invented these things?"

Adrien made his way carefully to the locker room where many victims were still gathered.

"If you want your faces back then listen up, have you ever heard of safety in numbers?"

"Anyone who's taking fencing grab a saber, too."

* * *

In the main courtyard, Reflekta Ladybug hurled her yo-yo at Reflekta over and over. Each time, the akumatized villain deflected it with an expert shot, then fired back.

Ladybug dodged as best she could, but the bulky dress make it awkward. Finally, Reflekta tagged her with a shot. All that happened was that the closest black spot on Ladybug's dress disappeared.

"It looks like I'm immune to your attack," said Ladybug.

"And I can deflect your yo-yo every time," said Reflekta. "It's a stand-off."

"Not so fast," said Ladybug.

She leaped, closing the distance between them. They fought hand to hand, with Ladybug trying to get the zapper and Reflekta grabbing for the earrings. It seemed that Reflekta was a bit stronger and better at hand-to-hand combat. Reflekta was getting the upper hand and Ladybug was struggling to keep her Miraculous.

"I'm gonna take your earrings as a trophy!" said Reflekta.

"Time to face off!" called Adrien. "Catch her!"

A crowd of Reflektas charged at the akuma.

"Yeah, get her!" said Reflekta Ivan.

"Run on!" said Reflekta Nino.

Reflekta disengaged from Ladybug and tried to get away by leaping from one head to another. Those who had sabers thrust them through the edges of her wide skirt. The unbalanced weight tripped her. She fell to the ground and got dog-piled by her many copies.

"Lucky Charm!" called Ladybug. She got a permanent marker. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Ladybug ran up to the pile of Reflektas. She found the one on the bottom who had sabers run through her skirt.

"Ladybug, she stole my ring!" said Adrien.

"Cat Noir, is it - is it really you?" asked Ladybug.

"Can't you tell by my swagger! Am I still the cat's meow or what?" said Adrien, making moves like Chat Noir.

"I don't know what to say," said Ladybug.

"How about a 'thank you' for getting you out of that tight spot!"

Ladybug would have teased him, but she was in basically the same boat as he was. "Thanks."

She turned to the captured villain.

"Before I break your akumatized object, tell me what you did with Chat Noir's ring," said Ladybug to Reflekta.

"No, I'll tell you nothing."

"I'll draw on your face with this maker," Ladybug threatened. "Then nobody will look like you any more."

"I hid it," said Reflekta. "You won't find it before Hawk Moth does."

"When you cure her she'll forget everything," said Chat Noir. "But Hawk Moth could see through her eyes. He knows exactly where it is."

"We'll find a way to get it back, I promise," said Ladybug.

She pulled the cap from Reflekta's bracelet and smashed it. Purple and black magic flowed off the villain and she reverted to Juleka.

"Better hide before I do the fixing charm, Chat Noir," Ladybug said. "You'll go back to your civilian identity since you don't have your ring."

Adrien ran off, still stumbling with the shoes.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" said Ladybug, throwing the marker into the air.

* * *

Marinette persuaded Vincent to take new pictures of the group of friends in the park after school. They wouldn't count as official school pictures, but they were still pictures that included Juleka that they could all share.

"Okay, we're all good here, ready?" asked Vincent.

Everyone was in position on and around a park bench. Everyone butChloé and Sabrina, who were nowhere to be seen.

"This photo was a good idea, Marinette!" said Adrien.

"Thanks Adrien!" said Marinette, blushing.

The photographer snapped several pictures. Looking through the images, Juleka smiled to see herself clearly photographed for the first time.

"The class photo curse is broken!" said Rose.

Rose put an arm on Juleka's shoulder, which Juleka didn't mind at all.

Chloé marched up to them, followed by Sabrina and Mr. Damocles.

"There she is!" Chloé said, pointing at Marinette.

Mr. Damocles said, "Young lady, I have been presented with photographic evidence that you broke into my office today."

Marinette's heart sank. Chloé's video clip! She had forgotten about that in all the confusion. The phone had disappeared when Reflekta transformed Chloé, and the Miraculous Ladybug charm had restored it.

"Umm..." said Marinette. "I was..."

"I am going to have to give you an hour of detention," said Mr. Damocles.

"Do my ears deceive me?" said Chloé. "A mere hour for a hardened criminal? She was going to steal the camera. I overheard her plotting about it with Rose."

"The punishment for theft is suspension for one week," said Sabrina, showing the rulebook.

"I wasn't going to steal it," said Marinette.

"That's right, Marinette didn't say anything to me about stealing," said Rose.

"For all you know, she was just going to leave a note asking for a re-shoot, for my sake," said Juleka.

"Well, Marinette?" asked Damocles. "What were you doing in my office? Did you touch the camera?"

Marinette hated it, but she had to admit what she did. "I was going to erase the class photo that didn't have Juleka in it, so that it would have to be done over."

Her friends gasped at this.

"You were going to destroy my hard work?" asked Vincent. He glared at Marinette.

"I'm sorry," said Marinette. "I don't know if I really would have gone through with it if I wasn't interrupted. My conscience was telling me it was wrong."

"You deserve to be suspended," said Vincent.

"I believe that is correct," said Damocles.

Marinette looked at the ground. She did deserve consequences, but she was going to be in so much trouble with her parents...

"Hold on," said Alya. "A one-week suspension is too much. It was for a friend, and in the end no harm was done."

"I'll call Daddy if you don't punish her," threatened Chloé.

"You're just a witness this time, not the so-called victim," said Alya. "Mr. Damocles, remember what happened the last time you gave out an unfair punishment, to me? Do you want to risk another akuma?"

"Or two," said Nino.

"Or three," said Ivan.

Others spoke up, until there was a chorus of voices. Chloé started to dial her father, but gave up when everyone glared at her.

"All right," said Damocles. "Five one-hour detentions, one each day for the next five school days."

Marinette sighed. "Yes, Sir."

"I'm not going to give any of you copies of these park pictures," said Vincent spitefully. "I'm going to delete them."

The classmates groaned.

"Please don't punish my friends for what I did," said Marinette.

"You could have asked me nicely in the first place," said Vincent. "Now it's too late. I've had a horrible day. I've struggled to line you up, been turned into a pink dolly, nearly had my work deleted, and got talked into wasting more of my time by the same sneaky little minx who messed with my camera. Goodbye."

Vincent stormed off. Damocles followed him. Chloé smirked at Marinette and left also, followed by Sabrina.

"Thank you for trying," said Juleka. "I guess the jinx is still on."

"Don't say that!" said Rose. "You were in the pictures even if we didn't get to keep copies."

"Why not just take some more pictures for ourselves with our cellphone cameras?" asked Adrien.

That is what they did, getting many pictures to share with Juleka included.

Marinette was in many, trying to smile. With the encouragement of her friends she eventually cheered up.

* * *

That night, a cloaked figure broke into the school's locker room and headed for one of the lockers.

"This should be the one," he said to himself. "I've accomplished two things today – I have Chat Noir's ring and I've narrowed down the set of Ladybug suspects to girls at this school."

As he reached to open it, a yo-yo zipped around him and bound his arms to his sides. Ladybug leaped at him and stuffed a cloth into his mouth before he could utter his transformation phrase.

A young man in a ski mask opened the locker and felt for the ring on an upper shelf. He put it on.

"The stake-out paid off, m'Lady. Claws out!"

"Turn on the lights and let's see who we've got," said Ladybug.

Chat Noir turned on the lights. Ladybug pulled back the hood of the cloak.

"Father? You're Hawk Moth?" asked Chat Noir in shock.

"Adrien? You're Chat Noir?" asked Ladybug.

The End


End file.
